In the autumn of 2007 the Mauritshuis will present a large survey exhibition of one of the most fascinating phenomena in the history of Western art: Dutch seventeenth-century portraiture. Nowhere else were so many portraits painted of burghers from all walks of life. Amazingly, the last exhibition devoted to this subject took place more than 50 years ago. With approximately 60 masterpieces, the exhibition will afford a magisterial overview of seventeenth-century portraiture. The two grand masters